Source: Sharecast
Taylor is one of the Monetary Policy Committee’s most dovish members.
The BoE has so far cut rates twice this year, by 25 basis points in both February and May, to 4.25%. Taylor backed the February reduction, but wanted a bigger 50bps cut in May and a 25bps trim in June.
The MPC opted to leave rates on hold last month in response to a spike in inflation to 3.4%.
However, analysts still widely expect the MPC to cut two more times this year, with the first reduction pencilled in for August.
But speaking at the European Central Bank’s forum on central banking in Portugal, Taylor - an external member of the MPC - argued that the UK needed to be on a lower rate path.
He said: "After some shocks and noise clouded by view of the economy and global developments in the first quarter, my reading of the deteriorating outlook suggested to me that we needed to be a lower rate path, needing five cuts in 2025 rather than the market-implied quarterly pace of four."
Taylor said he had previously expected a soft landing for the UK economy, despite some remaining upside risks to inflation.
However, he told attendees: "Now I see that soft landing as being at risk, and greater probability of a downside scenario in 2026 pushing us off track, as demand weakness and trade disruptions build."
He acknowledged that energy prices - one of the largest drivers of inflation - remained "a big unknown".
But he warned: "They are not the only factor in place, and aside from domestic prices and taxes, which fade out in the new year, the underlying demand-supply balance is quickly shifting as slack opens up."
